Environment Maine Ignores Solar Power Costs

Environment Maine released a solar power report and related press release yesterday claiming, “Solar power is also increasingly cost competitive with older, dirtier sources of energy.” Not surprisingly, the media reports these absurd claims from such a biased source as if they constituted a credible, objective news story.

“Representatives of Environment Maine … point out that solar energy is cheap, clean and easily accessible,” reads a news article on the Web site of WCSH television in Portland, Maine.

I am often asked how much more expensive is solar and wind power than traditional coal or natural gas power. A good breakdown on the levelized production costs (i.e., after all taxes, subsidies, and other artificial price factors are stripped away) is provided by Gilbert Metcalf, an economics professor at Tufts University. According to Metcalf, clean coal is 15 percent more expensive than traditional coal power, natural gas is 48 percent more expensive than traditional coal power, nuclear is 57 percent more expensive, wind is 75 percent more expensive, solar thermal is 570 percent more expensive, and solar photovoltaic is 887 percent more expensive. (Solar thermal utilizes tremendous amounts of water and is therefore not as popular with environmentalists as solar photovoltaic.)

It would be nice if, at least once in a while, the media quoted these figures when providing their lapdog-like coverage of deceptive claims made by environmental activist groups.